Data to be recorded can be received from many sources. One example source is network traffic. Network traffic typically refers to the flow of data on a network. Network traffic can include a variety of examples such as the flow of data on a local network or on a wide area network. The Internet is an example of a wide area network, and network traffic on the Internet can include the flow of data related to the World Wide Web, peer to peer networks, electronic mail, or the like.
Network traffic is often recorded and later analyzed. In one example, network traffic relates to a server providing information to client systems on a wide area network such as the Internet. In this example, a customer may employ a host server connected to the wide area network to provide a web site or other files to client computers also connected to the wide area network. Clients can often access the web site or files with a program such as an Internet browser located at the client. In the case of the Internet, millions of client computers can access a popular host server over a period of time. The customer of this host server may be interested in such as information as to what sites or web pages are being accessed, when these sites or the pages are being accessed, how often, which files are being downloaded, and the like. In order to do this, network traffic is recorded to be replayed for a customer or to provide a customer with a list of network traffic. Customers can analyze this and other information to better improve their website, better understand the nature of the clients accessing the website, and determine other trends or glean additional information.
For an accurate and complete analysis of network traffic, many customers tend to prefer that all network traffic can be recorded. Information or files related to network traffic can be calculated into a conversion value and stored. Unfortunately, calculating a conversion value for each file is an expensive proposition because the calculation can require a relatively high amount of processing resources. This problem is exacerbated when there is much traffic to record.